Creation
A Novel
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Creation
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Narrateur(s):
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Malcolm Hillgartner
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Auteur(s):
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Gore Vidal
À propos de cet audio
A sweeping novel of politics, war, philosophy, and adventure - in a restored edition, featuring never-before-published material from Gore Vidal’s original manuscript - Creation offers a captivating grand tour of the ancient world.
Cyrus Spitama, grandson of the prophet Zoroaster and lifelong friend of Xerxes, spent most of his life as Persian ambassador for the great king Darius. He traveled to India, where he discussed nirvana with Buddha, and to the warring states of Cathay, where he learned of Tao from Master Li and fished on the riverbank with Confucius. Now blind and aged in Athens - the Athens of Pericles, Sophocles, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Socrates - Cyrus recounts his days as he strives to resolve the fundamental questions that have guided his life’s journeys: how the universe was created, and why evil was created with good. In revisiting the fifth century B.C. - one of the most spectacular periods in history - Gore Vidal illuminates the ideas that have shaped civilizations for millennia.
©1981, 2002 Gore Vidal (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Foreword by Anthony Burgess © The Estate of Anthony Burgess; previously published in 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 (Summit Books: 1984).I listened to the Audible version of Creation and I have to say that Malcolm Hillgartner performed impeccably. The narrator, Cyrus Spitama, was a hardened curmudgeon, they make some of the best narrators, Hillgartner owned that role and his delivery was not only perfect to the character but captivated me from the opening scenes until the very end, all twenty-seven hours.
While I am well aware that you cannot count on a fiction book to always deliver historical facts, Vidal gave me the distinct impression that he did his homework. I came out of Creation feeling like I had learned a great deal about fifth century B.C. Persia, India and China, how these civilizations existed during this period and how small the world was way back then. We always think that global travel is a new thing, that ancient peoples were stuck or trapped in their little corners of the world, but I often come back to what one of my history professors said that ancient cultures had that no longer exists - patience. If it took twelve years to go to China and back, well it took twelve years, and everyone was okay with that.
An aspect of Creation that I adored was the point of view that Vidal brought to this time and place. Usually we see it only from the Athenian / Western point of view. It was brilliant how Vidal looked at everything from the Persian side. His mockery of our beloved democracy, his treatment of the great western thinkers to how Greece was so insignificant to the Persians. It wasn’t that the Greeks beat off the Persians, it just wasn’t worth the trouble.
This was my first odyssey into Vidal’s works, and it has given me the taste for more. From his irreverence to all of our western ideals to his respect to his audience to form their own opinion to his creation of incredible characters and bringing to life historical icons, this book was definitely an intriguing treat.
The other side of the story.
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Vidal's premise of having an individual meet so many important historical figures struck and interested me instantly. Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, among other less known but just as interesting characters made for an enjoyable journey through the ancient world. Highly recommended.
Enjoy!
Time well spent
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